The role of interspecific competition as a regulating force in natural populations has been
controversial, especially for phytophagous insect communities. A series of manipulative
experiments using enclosure cages were conducted to evaluate the role of interspecific
competition between a weevil and a fly, two seed feeding agents released against spotted
knapweed in North America. The fly, an inferior biological control agent, was the
superior competitor. Consequences of the antagonistic interaction included reduced seed
destruction compared to if just the weevil was released on its own. The role of plant
phenology on insect herbivore density was also assessed. The implications of phenologyinduced
variation in insect density were evaluated with respect to competition between
the fly and the weevil and were found to be important. Hypotheses of four plantmediated
mechanisms of interspecific competition were also tested. Results support
resource preemption as a competitive mechanism. / vii, 97 leaves ; 29 cm
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:ALU.w.uleth.ca/dspace#10133/637 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Crowe, Michael, University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science |
| Contributors | Cartar, Ralf, Bourchier, Rob |
| Publisher | Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 2003, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Relation | Thesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science) |
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